yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
Ok, so yesterday I hooked each coil output in my tylt to a separate multimeter (this may void the warranty...) so I could immediately see what coil is used and when.

Turns out the top coil can be activated with the phone only about 3/16"-1/4" from the bottom ledge, much closer than the 3/4" I initially thought it was when I was just going by the status LED.

I believe timing is also a factor. Qi chargers send out a ping every few hundred milliseconds to see if they get a response. The tylt appears to ping each coil one after the other (At least I think, a multimeter isn't the best tool for viewing this). So if you happen to place your phone on the pad just as a ping is about to occur on the top coil, the phone could start charging from it pretty quickly.

This all makes placement being a part of the cause much more plausible to me. I originally thought you had to be very deliberate and place the phone in a way no one does to get the top coil to activate. But now, especially considering timing, I can see how even casual placement could cause this to happen.

Bigger question is, why does it think the top coil is appropriate given the distance the receiver is from it by this point? According to Qi spec, it's supposed to pick the coil which is receiving the strongest signal from the phone. I would think the signal its receiving from that coil would be quite weak at this distance. So is it communicating over one coil and charging over another? Is it a communications breakdown?

Questions I wish I could answer, but I'm just a guy on the internet.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jelledgeu2:
TYLT charger woes

Wow, nice find! Yes you would need a oscilloscope to see the coil pings as the multimeter is not fast enough.

This small distance to activate the top coil is much worse than before, maybe I will either disable the top coil or send them back for refund.

Either way TYLT screwed the pouch and designed a flawed product, and yes I am an semiconductor engineer.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tmagritte:
Nice work. How hard is it to take apart and reassemble it? Does it look like there's any way to disconnect the third coil without cutting wires?

What's the purpose of this third coil? Is this for tablet charging?

For what it's worth, I decided to give the "fix" method of placing the phone on an angle first another try: I got an overheat on the first attempt. My conclusion is this method does not fix the problem at all - if it does work it seems to be too finicky to be a reliable workaround. So far using landscape mode has been the only fix.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
Interesting. Was it a true overheat 132F and charger shutdown or just like a 110F hot charge?

---------- Post added at 03:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:15 PM ----------

Wow, really nice work and thanks for doing that!
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tmagritte:
It was a true overheat. I had an alarm set to go off at 45 deg C so I took it off the charger when it went off. The battery charge wasn't increasing at that point. During a normal charge (I always leave the screen off) I've never seen it go above 42 and that's when it was already hot from use when charging started so this was not just normally hot. I had tried this before and had the same result.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
Yes, I imagine the third coil is used for taller devices like tablets. There's no jumper or anything, but the coil can easily be desoldered if you don't want to do permanent damage. As I said before, not sure what impact this would have on the chip though. It's designed for 3 coils, and if it doesn't "see" the third one, not sure how it'll react.

Taking the VU apart isn't terribly hard, not the easiest thing either though. Four screws under the long front foot, one under each back foot, two at the top (those are the exposed ones in the "crotch"). All screws are torx t7 and t8. There's a plastic clip on each side about half way up, on the front and the back. These will release with enough pressure. The trickiest part is getting the top shell to come away from the bottom after you've released all the clips. The plastic studs in the crotch will bind if the top shell isn't lifted away perfect straight, so you need to put even pressure on the front and back side while prying. Not sure how easy any of that was to follow, but there you go.

I can't believe yours still overheated. From what I've observed, placing the phone on the ledge straight up, then rolling the phone back into place does seem to reliably activate the middle coil.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tmagritte:
I think I may have misunderstood the instructions. I'm giving it another try.

Was wondering how much higher is the third coil from the second one. Maybe another fix would be to use some kind of riser so that the Nexus 5 coil is aligned with the third coil?

However, at work I keep the charger under my monitor either the rolling or raising (if it works) solutions will make that placement impossible.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
This is a very good idea. Placing the phone about a 1/2" above the ledge should put the N5 coil in line with the top coil. TYLT or a 3rd party should make a plastic spacer for the N5 that slips onto the ledge and raises the phone the appropriate amount...
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
like a large black lego with 2 sided tape
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AliLaPointe:
Just got mine in the mail and it will be going right back. Can't deal with the worry that I'm going to kill my nexus.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] charesa39:
When you do, make sure to get tracking info when you ship it. Mine got there on Monday, and I hadn't heard anything. So I emailed on Wednesday, and the guy said the RMA department hadn't received anything yet. I gave him my tracking number, and the next day, the refund was processed. This isn't to bash Tylt or anything. It's just a heads up to stay on top of it until you get your refund confirmation. A plus is the guy I was emailing with seemed very kind and professional.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mythos123:
If it's not asking to much, would it be possible for you to make a video on how to correctly place the phone on the Tylt?

Thank you for helping us understand the issues with this charger.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
This is much more simple than I make it sound, I think I can show you through the power of still photography:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
does anyone have temp monitoring software for overheat alerting that you can recommend? I'm using battery monitor pro and it works but the alert isn't configurable and it's too quick to be reliable.

I'd like to have a monitoring app that:

1. allows you to set a specific threshold temp

2. will generate a very long or continuous alert sound

3. preferably allow you to specify that the alert should sound even if the sound is turned off, much like the phone's alarm clock app.

Tasker comes close but I've had issues with it. Thanks.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mythos123:
thank you very much!

in your opinion, using this method of placement is it still possible to overheat the phone if unlucky?

i'm thinking of the timing factor you mentioned earlier...

---------- Post added at 12:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:22 PM ----------

Battery Monitor Widget allows you to set a specific threshold temp and also an alert sound of your choice.

though when phone is muted the alert sound doesn't work.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] andretan:
Hi guys, what app/widget do you recommend for battery?

I want to check which cable (or wireless charger) gives me the best charge...

(I'm quite happy with the stock battery settings in Kit Kat and I'm not looking for anything too complicated.)

Thanks :)
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
I can't guarantee it won't happen, especially if you have a bulky case that lifts the phone into top coil range. But I've used this method at least 20 times now and it engages with the middle every time.

I think I'll keep the multimeters hooked up for a couple weeks though. I'll report back if it ever engages with the top coil while using tylt's "fix".
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
Keep forgetting to mention the IDT chip in this thing has an i2c interface and a service header on the PCB that connects to it. If TYLT really wanted to fix the issue, it wouldn't be THAT big of a deal to write a firmware fix and re-flash these things. Ok, it might be a big deal, but I don't think it would bankrupt them.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
Foreign object detection can be corrected without a hardware mod?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
From the datasheet:

Pretty sure TYLT went with the standard firmware... Maybe they thought it wasn't necessary because of the angled surface?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] viva56:
Tylt vu hot

i am using tylt vu for a while for my nexus 5. i am using neo hybrid case if i put my phone vertical on tylt it becomes like a sun, but if i put horizontal no problem. i think it is something about the coil position on the tylt vu.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
Does that case raise the phone when it's portrait? Maybe just enough to activate the top coil?

---------- Post added at 03:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:49 PM ----------

Maybe that was their thinking at the time. Never envisioned that there might be a foreign object actually in the phone?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] viva56:
Yes but i think most of the hard cases raise the phone a bit but that small height difference activates the top coil and than crazy hot phone
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
So it doesn't get crazy hot if you charge it without the case?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AliLaPointe:
I sent them the below email and although they gave me RMA info, my comments were not addressed. Looks like we're on our own here folks.

I received the charger today and was originally very excited. However, upon using it with my Nexus 5, the phone quickly began to overheat. Doing more research, it seems that the only way to avoid this is to lay the phone in landscape mode or placing it bottom first and rolling it back. Both of these methods really defeat the convenience factor of a Qi enabled charger. Moreover, the aforementioned methods are not a guaranteed way of getting the phone to not overheat, simply a suggestion from users who really like the product and are committed to finding ways to use it.*

*

That said, I am concerned about leaving my phone on the charger without constantly monitoring its temperature. I am worried about causing permanent damage to my device, or worse, having the device catch on fire and damage my home. I understand that this may be something that you do not have the answer to. However, I encourage Technocel to take these concerns seriously. Not only are you losing potential buyers of what is a great looking product, but you are also putting your customers at risk.*

*

Because of the concerns, I will have to return my Tylt VU device. If you could please instruct me on the RMA process, it would be very much appreciated.*

*

I would like to point out the below two discussions where users are trying to solve the overheating issue with the Nexus 5. I sincerely hope you read some of the comments as your customers are very interested in making the product work for them. Some users have gone as far as disassembling the Tylt Vu in order to see if a user modification can fix the issue. It would be great to see Technocel work in conjunction with its customers in order to find a solution.*

*

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=49527798&postcount=182

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2522361&page=5

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2551819&page=4

*
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
Based on their responses so far, I kinda figured we were on our own. You're lucky to even get a reply to your email. I sent an email at least 6 weeks ago and never heard back.

Even though the butt first method seems to work, I don't fully trust it. Last thing I need is for my phone to shut down in the middle of the night due to heat and have my alarm not go off. Or worse, wake up to a violent li-ion fire.

It's a shame, because this was my dream charger. I really like the design. I'm considering implementing a thermostat which would trigger the reset pin on the chip if things get too toasty. This would cause it to reboot and select the correct coil, correcting the issue automatically. A lot of brain damage just to make this stupid charger safe though.

Maybe I'll put the guts from a single coil charger into the VU. Or maybe I'll just sell the thing and make one out of wood. Decisions...
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] viva56:
No i tried twice no crazy hot phone
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mr. Sprinkles:
Is there hope after all?

So, I just noticed this update on the TYLT VU kickstarter page, posted on Dec 3rd:

And here's a comment from a backer, from 4 days ago:

What I gather from this is that the firmware has been updated and updated units should arrive mid/late March (the delay is probably due to Chinese New Year). But will this solve the issue with the N5? I sent Kannyn MacRae a message through kickstarter regarding this (he's the lead dude on this project), we'll see if he responds.

Also, why can't they just tell us this stuff?? Put a banner on your website or something. Be up front about what's going on. Why do I have to scrub your kickstarter page for information? So frustrating.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mythos123:
personally this is not an option for me, due too extremely high international shipping costs.

but this is interesting news regardless.

keep us posted
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] R2canoe:
Thanks for the update!

Thats weird that they refused to offer any help and just give refunds to people who actually emailed them multiple times about the issue and now they put up a post on their Kickstarter page saying they will replace any defective ones and just contact customer service? I emailed customer service over three weeks ago and have yet to receive any response from them so my faith in their CS is not very high.

I might send another email and see what happens, but the way this has been handled by TYLT has really been poor.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
They told me a replacement in 4-8 weeks about a month ago. But then they told others no fix was coming, the fix was the docking method, etc. So I really don't know have a clue. Unfortunately the reaction is quite a moving target.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] R2canoe:
Battery Temperature Guard Free

I've been using Battery Temperature Guard Free, it's simple and easy to use plus i asked the dev for a feature a week ago and he just updated the app with it this week! So Don't know about #3 but if you send him an email i'm sure he will add it.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
I hate to suggest this, but if we could appoint a spokesperson and all email the spokesperson our real contact info. Then let the spokesperson write them on behalf of the group. Would probably have a lot more teeth but we may not have enough people yet.

---------- Post added at 07:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 PM ----------

I'll definitely check that app out. Many thanks!
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] R2canoe:
No problems! I really like how quickly the dev responded to my email and the app does one thing and thats it (which i prefer). That by itself made me pay the $1 something for the add free version.

I would be up for that, I haven't had any luck with TYLT's customer service so if we had a spokesman maybe we could get a more consistent response and/or resolution.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] stevemw:
Isn't it strange that wireless charging and overheating seems to come up only in association with the TYLT VU? I've used the Energizer Qi charger with my Nexus 4, 7 and 5 with absolutely no issues for about a year now. Maybe the real issue is the TYLT VU.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
who ever questioned that? have you even read the thread? The vu, unlike other Qi chargers, is quite unique. Unlike other Qi chargers its designed to charge almost any Qi device in landscape or portrait and it uses 3 coils to accomplish this "universal" capability.

So its no surprise that the vu has more vulnerabilities. It's a lot more sophisticated. That's also why people absolutely loved it until a phone came along that just turned up unanticipated problems with the design.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mabru2001:
Maybe we should blame google and not tylt? :laugh: Just throwing it out there. :silly:
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
It's actually a good point. I don't know the spec well enough to say who's at fault but Mr. Sprinkles might have an opinion on that.

---------- Post added at 07:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------

I also asked for a feature and he added it in less than 24 hrs. I also went paid and gave him a glowing 5 star rating.

So for all of you out there that are uneasy about charging overnight, this app will now alert on a specified battery temp and alarm until you turn it off. It will now alarm even if the phone is on silent mode if you choose. IMO its the perfect battery temp alert for N5 tylt vu owners until this problem is fixed (if ever).

Thanks again R2Canoe for recommending it. It really makes this issue a little more bearable.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JD2589:
Very interesting find!

You should email this to them, lol.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xxivy:
I was so close to placing an order, but then I came across this thread. Most certainly not going to splurge on something with such a serious flaw.

Is the firmware update in the new batches confirmed? I am wondering if I should consider delaying my purchase, or go for something else.

This is such a shame since the Vu looked like it could be the dream charger/stand combo for my N5 :(
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
What new batches are you referring to? The current shipping product? Tylt has recently said something about a fix in 4 weeks in kickstarter but have told others here there won't be a fix. They sound very confused to me.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xxivy:
Either in the current shipping line or future ones. I just want confirmation on whether a fix is in the works or not.

Like you said, reading around this subject got me really confused as well. Sigh.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
This whole thread would like a definite answer to that question. Until someone has one in hand I wouldn't put too much faith in any statements made.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mabru2001:
Got another reply from TYLT after emailing asking about the post on the Kickstarter page.

Then he attached this, I guess this is official they are tired of our emails.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wideasleep1:
So we 'tylt' our phones onto the Tylt....okay.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] AliLaPointe:
Welp, that sucks. Hopefully someone makes progress on detaching the third coil.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
That came out right after we sent them the Mr. Sprinkles right up recommending this procedure. This was almost word for word. Guess we must have the tylt expert in our thread.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xxivy:
Is the recommended method above fail-safe so far?
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JD2589:
How you guys use this wireless charger knowing their is a possibility of frying your N5 is beyond me.

With that said, I had placed an order from them, and after reading on XDA about the overheating issue I canceled my order. I will admit the form factor of this wireless charger is quite interesting, but it is not worth the risk by any means.

If I were in any of your shoes I'd begin emailing them on a refund, and buy another wireless charger of another brand.

/thread
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] charesa39:
Couldn't agree with you more. I owned two of them from the Cyber Monday deal. Even after reading some of the early stories of overheating, I still had the mentality of "Those are just a few unlucky ones that got bad units. It'll never happen to me..." Well, shortly after that, I was betrayed by my own device! :silly: But in all seriousness, after emailing Tylt a couple times to see if they came up with a fix or what they were doing about the issue, I never heard back. So I emailed them requesting a refund. Funnily enough, I received a response within a matter of hours with RMA numbers for the return. I really feel bad for this Richard guy, whom I assume is the only one receiving and responding to these emails sent to their customer service inbox since they even drop his name on their Kickstarter page. It does suck because I really loved the concept and design of the Vu, but couldn't trust leaving my device on it unattended.

I ended up buying the LG N4 Charging Orb for home and the Nokia DT-900 for work, and couldn't be happier. Both are quality products that work very well, and safely.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NCguy:
So far yes. That said I've only had 2 incidents in 4 months and I've only used the new procedure for a week. But since we've started I've not seen any other reports with people using the new procedure so that's a good sign.

Both times the overheat happened the device was stuck at around 132 F. I haven't seen any reports yet of it exceeding that temp but it's possible.

Between the new procedure and the temperature guard pro alerting software I'm good for the moment. I hope they come up with a fix but if they don't I probably won't keep this device more than a year regardless. I like the charger so much otherwise I'm definitely going to stick it out a while. Other than this overheat issue it more than lives up to my expectations and I haven't seen a charger Id rather have.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mabru2001:
I don't, Once the Nokia ones go on sale again I'm going to get two more and either send back the VU or give it to my wife for her iQi charger for the iphone. I just hope that since the iphone is all metal back that the VU handles it better than the N5.
[Nexus 5 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tmagritte:
I've tried the tilting method described and it didn't work for me. Others have suggested it may be due to the case - perhaps if the case moves the phone too high vertically this method isn't sufficient. I haven't tried with no case or a different case so I can't say. I was pretty consistently getting overheating with the Spigen Neo Hybrid case in portrait mode on one unit I have at work but not on a second unit I have at home where I charge overnight. This too is strange too.

The only method I've found which consistently prevents overheating is using it in landscape mode. I've gotten used to doing this and it seems safe. I actually switched to a Spigen Ultra Hybrid case (I bought a few different cases early on) which has flush buttons which help prevent accidental button pressing when used in landscape mode. Actually, the Ultra Hybrid case's buttons are way too sensitive so accidental button presses is why I hated the case originally, but after grinding down the inside of the buttons with a rotary tool that solved the problem.

I also found by slowly lowering the phone until it started charging that positioning the phone about 2.6 cm above the bottom lip will activate wireless charging in both portrait and landscape mode, presumably using the top (3rd) coil for portrait and maybe the 2nd coil for landscape? This might be another makeshift solution if you don't mind the phone being that might higher. I didn't have anything of that length around to actually test this other than holding the phone but when I get around to it I'll try to fashion some kind of riser to give this a try.